Rotary cylinder lock



Aug. 4, 1953 E. UHER ROTARY CYLINDER LOCK 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed June 15, 1948 I N Vf/YTO R fama/vo UHER Aug. 4, 1953 E. UHER ROTARY CYLINDER LOCK 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 15, 1948 INVENTOR form/vo UHE/ Patented Aug. 4, 1953 i Application June'15,-1948, Serial In France January 1 2, 19 8 The present invention relates to locksofthe rotary cylinder type having a plurality of tumbler elements normally positioned to lock the cylinder. against rotation in its casing.,

The rotary cylinder looks generally compriseta cylindrical oasing in which rotates the cylinder. carrying transversely guided tumbler elements adapted to engage in a slot or. grooveprovided in the casing. The fact that two functions are then assigned to the inner cylinder viz. .that of guiding the tumbler elements both in rotation and transversely excludes the possibility of manufacturing said cylinder withoutmachining,

that is to say without milling or turning, thus giving rise to a high cost of manufacture. The principal object of this invention isto provide a lock of the rotary cylinder type which may be manuactured withoutmachining. r

. adapted to` cooperate with said i ranged in two different positions;

Another object of the invention is .toprovicle locks of the said type which permit. of' a great number of possible combinations through a substantial increase of the number of tumbler elements without correspondingly increasing ,the

length of the cylinder.

According to the invention, the functions which were heretofore assigned to the inner cylinder alone are distributed between two diflerent mem-a bers, one adapted to guide ,the tumbler elements in rotation and the other to guide said elements ?r transversely. To this effect, the inner cylinder 2 Fig. 10 is a side View with said lock;

Fig. 11 is a perspective View of a lock with four longitudinal grooves Fig. 12` is a similar View of a stampecl and rolled f casing;

Fig. 13 is a side view of the casing;

Fig. 14 is a section through the end of the inner I 'l cylinder;

Fig. 15 is a transverse sectional View of a key' provided .with two longitudinally extending, camsurfaces on each edge and adapted to cooperate with a lock according to the invention; v.

Fig. 16 is an elevational side view of said key;

Fig. 17 shows three types of tumbler elements p key each ar- Fig. 18 shows two such tumbler elements-with the key engaged therein;

Fig. 19 is alongitudinal sectional View of lock cylinder With thekey engaged therein;

Fig. 20 is a transverse section of the lock cylin-.. der through XX-XX of Fig. 19;

Fig.21 is a similar of Fig.. 19. i

Inorder toincrease the number of possible li i combinations, keys must be used which have difis hollowed and provided with 'longitudinal-;Slotsthe width of which is substantially-that of the tumbler elements, a specialsupporting member being provided inside said cylinder for -transversely guiding the tumbler elements are hereafter described in detail the appended drawings, in which;

Fig 1 is a longtudinal sectional inder lock; i

and. shown; in

view otr a cy1-.

lock;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional View of thejnner cylinder Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the guidingtcagej i `Q Fig. '7 shows three types of tumbler elements;

for the tumbler elements;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view der of the lock;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectionalviewofithe v This and other novel features of lthednven'tion ferent cross sections, which entails rotary lock cylinders. arranged so that only the corresponding keys. m'aybeintroduced therein. The opening providedin the inner lock cylinder and cor- N responding to the cross section of the key may be obtained while moulding the said cylinder,` for instance by an injection moulding process,` or the cylinder may be diedwith the necessary profiled slot. such methods of manufacture entail a v costly and complicated equipment and it is prac-' 4 tically impossible to provide for a sufficient number of different cross sections for the keys. The 4:04` Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same Fig, Q is a similar-view of alock -casing, with---' two longitudinal grooves known solution consisting in` providing, at each I end of the cylinder, guiding plates provided with i profiled Slots cannot be applied in practice be cause, .particularly when the lock comprises. a

i great number of tumbler elements, the end of the .key is not guided When the latter is introduced" 'inside the cylinder, a numberof tentatives then v. being' necessary to introduce the end of the key ,in the slot provided in the terminal guidng plate;

In order to, secure the'introduction of the key' ;without difficulty in the whole length of the cyl inder, taking into account the fact that the I tumbler elements must be transversely displaced shape of a hollow cylindrical envelope and to of the key adapted to work i casing the section through XXI-XXI 3 insert, in the hollow of said cylinder, between adjacent tumbler elements, a fixed guiding plate 3 attached to the cylinder, each guiding plate being provided with a slot 3 accommodating the various cross sections of the key. The said guiding plates may be stamped in a metal sheet with various shapes of slots and be formed at will to correspond to the cross sections of the keys used in combination with the cylinder.

In order to. manufacture rationally the whole of the cylinder without machining, li' propose to stamp first of all a fiat plate intended to form the walls of the cylinder, said plate being provided, through the stamping, with all the necessary openings, then to roll up said plate to form the cylinder. In order to allow of still. moreeasy variations of the cross section of the keys, the tumbler elements are located inside- 3, cage which is independent of the cylinder and comprises the guiding plates for said` elements.. i

The cylinder I (Figs. 1 and 4) is provided with two longitudinal slots for the insertion of the. guiding cage and' of the tumbler elements. At the fore end of the cylinder is secured a circular stamped closing plate 2; As above mentioned, a cage (Figs. 5 and 6) is providedto hold and* guide the tumbler elements; said cage comprises guiding plates 3 and two lateral plates 9 joining the latter and holding them together. The guiding plates 3 have lateral extensions l-l engaging in corresponding slots stamped in the lateral plates 9, which holds them apart at the right distance, the whole assembly thus orming a rigid cage. The said cage, the cross section of which corresponds to the boring of the inner cylinder iis freely introduced in the latter. The outer ex tremities of the guiding plates are extended so that* they penetrate the longitudinal slots of the cylinder I, which prevents said cage from rotating with respect to cylinder I. A profiled slot 3 corresponding to the cross section of the key is stamped'in-the cover-ing plate 2 as well as in each guiding plate, so that the key is exactly guicled on its whole length. The tumblerelements 4 are set freely in the intervals between the guidng These elements are allprovided With a,

4 e. g. by 30 or 45 thereto, according as whether they interconnect two active portions having the same height or two dierent heights. The key penetrates the different tumbler elements which are forcibly caused to slide transversely in both directions by said intermediate portions of the active outlines of the key. When the key is fully introduced, the tumbler elements are all set in the 'same position, inside the cylinder (Figs. 3 and 4) and it is; then possible to rotate the cy linder i reely in its casing 5. When taking out the key, all the tumbler elements are pushed in the same direction by the end active portion of the key or fall downwards through their own weight, the cylinder being thus locked inside its casing 5 whichisprovided with two longitudinal grooves into which engage the tumbler when they are not I held by "the key&

is different; according to the-considered `elements andthere are as many such positions as there are different heights of the active portions on the corresponding: key.

In the example shown at Fig. 7, three looking positionshave been considered; in one case, the slot is located in the middle of a tumbler element and, inthe two others, it is deported on the samedistance, either upwards or downwards, the

elements with which they are intended to. co- V operate; Said active portions are interconnected by intermediate portions which may be either parallel to theweb longitudinal axis or inclined,

The casing 5 may comprise two or four longitudinalgrooves 6 the width of which corresponds to that of the tumbler elements. It may also be stamped in the shape of a fiat. plate comprising allthenecessary openings then rolled up. In order to avoid the tumbler elements from falling out ofthe casing any suitable securing means may be provided a stamped and rolled tube may be threaded on the said casing, or the latter may be inserted inside a boring provided in the body of the lock.

In order to limit the rotation of the inner cylinder i to an anble of 180 or according to the case the upper part !2 of the first guiding plate may be extended (Fig. 8) outside said cylinder through the corresponding longitudinal slot of the latter. The forward end of the casing (Figs. 9 and 11) is notched, or cut at !3 so that extension 'z of' the forward` guiding plate may rotate of the desired angle in the notch. thus formed.

Thanks to the small bulk of the cage and tumbler elements it is possible to use` in normal looks a cylinder having up to ten tumbler ele-- mente; If; three dierent, active positions are provided' for the latter; 3 =59,04;9 combinations` may be obtained. If' ten different cross sections of keys are used, the figure raises\ to 590A90. Furtherrnore, if two guidng plates are set. one against the other in one point of the cylinder, there results a difierent configuraton of the cam profile of the key, hence a new series of combinations. such double guiding plates may be set in eight different positions inside the cage,. thus giving 590,490` 8=4,723,920 difierent combinations or' different shapes of keys.

4 In order to obtain practically such a great is formed of two separate key webs ZI and 22, tha-t is to saytwo key webs havingdierent cam surfaoes, assembled for instance through` soldering points. The key thus-hastwo adjacent camsurfaces 23; and 24. on: each edge.,

Three different heights have here beenprovided for the active-portions with respect to the longitudinal axis of the web and said active portions are 'such that the active height i. e. the height of each web 'measured along the transverse axs of said active portions is constant.

The tumbler elements 25-30 (Fig. 17) are provided with slot 3! formed of two adjacent openings one of which is as long as the total height a: of the webs of the key and the other has a length equal to the active height y of the webs. In the first mentioned openings, the key may pass freely without raising or lowering the corresponding tumbler element (Fig. 4) said openings are thus inactive. ings having a length y are active, the tumbler elements being brought to the desired position under .the action of the active outlines of the webs on which apply the walls 32 and 33 of said other Since the active portions of the key have, in the example shown, three different heights, the distance-z between the active sides 32 and 33 of slots :il and the corresponding outer edge of the tumbler elements may have three diiTerent values' In element 25, the active part of the slot corresponding to active'portions of middle height, is in the middle ofthe element, the distance 2 being the same above and under the slot.

The position of the slot is the same in element 26, but the whole of the slot is arranged symmetrioally with respect to that of element 25, elements such as 26 being actuated by the surfaces 23 of the key. In' the case of element 21, the active part of the slot, corresponding to higher active portions, is displaced downwards; such elements are controlled by the surfaces 24 of the key; the same elements, used symmetrically, form elements 28 which are controlled by surfaces 23 of the key.

The elements 29 are the same as elements 21 after turning the latter around their transverse axis, and elements 30 are symmetrical with respect to elements 29, the first being controlled by surfaces 23 and the second by surfaces 24 of the key. Thus, two shapes of tumbler elements give six different positions of the slots.

Two tumbler elements are placed between two successive guiding plates 3 of the cage in the lock cylinder, said elements being chosen so that one is controlled by the cam surfaces 23 and the other by the cam surfaces 24 of the key.

As two cam surfaces act upon separate tumbler elements, it is possible, with such an arrangement, to provide, with the same length of key for at least twice as many tumbler elements as in the first example shown, the safety being thus much higher than in ordinary locks.

According to the invention, it is also possible to assemble more than two cam surfaces, the slots in the tumbler elements then being formed of three adjacent openings, two of which have height a: and the third height -y the latter being positioned according to the cam surface and to the height of the active portion with which it is intended to cooperate.

What I claim is:

1. In a key-operated rotary cylinder lock, a fixed outer portion having wall means defining a cylindrical opening, said wall means being formed with a longitudinal recess, a rotary cylindrical member received in said cylindrical opening, said rotary cylindrical member having an internal cavity with at least one opening communioating radially with the wall means of said outer portion, a cage assembly received in the cavity of said rotary cylindrical member, said On the contrary, the other opencage assembly comprising a plurality of intermediate guide members spaced apart along the axis of the cage assembly and anchoring means for holding said intermediate guide members in fixed spaced-apart relationship to aiford a rigid cage assembly, tumbler members received between spaced-apart intermediate guide members and movable radially with respect to the axis of the rotary cylindrical member to pass through the opening in the rotary cylindrical member to enter releasably the recess in the wall means of said fixed outer portion, whereby said fixed spacing of the intermediate guide members aforcls clearance for free radial movement of said tumblers and whereby lateral forces on said intermediate guide members along the axis of the cylindrical member are carried by said cage assembly independently of said tumbler members, and means for securing said cage assembly to said cylindrical portion to rotate therewith, whereby insertion of a key in the lock releases the tumblers from the recess to free the cylindrical member and cage assembly for rotary movement within the fixed outer portion.

2. In a rotary cylinder lock, a fixed outer portion having wall means defining a cylindrical opening, said wall means being formed with a recess, a rotary cylindrical member received in said cylindrical opening, said rotary cylindrical member having an elongated internal cavity communicating with the wall means of saidouter.-

portion through a radial opening, an elongated cage assembly received in the cavity of said rotary cylindrical member, said cage assembly comprising elongated distance 'piece means, a plurality of intermediate guide members anchored in said distance piece means for holding said intermediate guide members in fixed spaced apart relationship along the axis of the cage assembly to afiord fixed radial channels therebetween, tumbler members received in the radial channels between spaced-apart intermediate guide members and constrained thereby to move radially with respect to the axis of the rotary cylindrical member to pass through the opening in the rotary cylindrical member t enter releasably the recess in the wall means of said fixed outer portion, whereby said fixed spacing of the intermediate guide members affords clearance for free radial movement of said tumblers and whereby forces on said intermediate guide members along the axis of the cage assembly are carried by said cage assembly independently of said tumblers members, and means for securing said cage assembly within the rotary cylindrical portion to rotate therewith.

3. In a rotary cylinder lock, a fixed outer portion having wall means defining a cylindrical opening, said wall means being formed With a longitudinal recess, a rotary cylindrical member received in said cylindrical opening, said rotary cylindrical member comprising a tubular portion having a pair of diametrically opposed, longitudinal slots, said slots placing the inner area of the tubular member in communication with the wall means of the outer portion, a cage assembly received in said tubular portion, said cage assembly comprising a pair of laterally spaced elongated distance pieces, each formed with a series of slots along its length, a plurality of slotted, spaced-apart intermediate guide plates having flat laterally extending portions received in the slots of said distance pieces to form a rigid, self-supporting cage assembly, and a plurality of randomly slotted tumbler members received between spaced-apart intermediate guide plates and reely movable therein radially with respect to the axis of the tubuiar portion, said tumbler members having looking portions adapted to pass through the Slots in the tubular portion to enter the recess in the Wall means of the outer portion, whereby the fixed spacing of the intermediate guide plates aifords clearance for free radal movement of said tunblers and whereby lateral forces on the guide plates along the axis of the cage assembly are carried by the distance pieces independently of said tumbler members.

4. A rotary eylinder lock comprising in combinatien with a fixed outer cylinder and slotted tumble' elements radially engageable in at least one groove provided in said outer oylincler, a 'otatable inner cylincler constituted by a tubular element provided With two diametrically opposed longitudinal Slots to inpart rotary movement to said tumbler elements whilst permitting radial displaeement thereof, a plurality of cross-shaped intermediate plates, two longitudinally extending distance pieoes provided with regularly spa-Geci transve'se Slots, and a look head end plate fixed on the outei' end of said tubular element, said oross-shaped intermediate p lates being assemblecl by means of said distance peees so as to form a rigid cage adapted to be mouni-,ed within said tubular element in such a manner that two opposed ende of each cross-shaped plate engage said two longitudinal Slots of the tubular element whilst the longitudinal edges of said distance pieces are in contact with the inner wall of said tubular element, said cage being seourely held within said tubular element by said look head end plate, and said tumbler elements being disposed between said intermediate plates so as to be guided thereby in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said inner oylinde'.

5. A rotary cylinder lock according to claim 1, wherein at least two tumbler elements are slidably positioned between each pair of adjacent, fixed intermediate guide members.

EDMOND UHER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATEN'I'S FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Oct. 13, 1909 Number 1,431J235 1,644365 1,644,092 133722 1969312 2,03033'7 :ZA-50,639

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